Ilyana Kuziemko

The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap

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Abstract:
This article explores the catch-up and reversal in the gender gap in college attendance and graduation. We
use three longitudinal data sets of high school graduates in 1957, 1972, and 1992
to understand the sources of the narrowing of the gender gap in college and its
reversal. We find that high school girls improved relative to boys in college
preparation as measured by achievement test scores and by math and science course
taking. The changes in these proximate determinants of college investments
appear to be driven by increases in girls' expected economic returns to college,
which in turn arose from improvements in perceived labor market opportunities
and an increase in the age of first marriage. We also find that long-standing
behavioral and developmental differences between boys and girls appear to have
contributed to the new college gender gap favoring females.

Source:Journal of Economic Perspectives

Exact Citation:
Goldin, Claudia, Lawrence Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko. "The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap." Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (2006): 133-156.